Where the legend of the Michigan Dogman is about a half man-half dog/wolf, the Dog Lady is a completely different creature. In fact, she was a human who actually turned into a creature based on her environment.
In a little inlet off Lake Erie in the southern Michigan city of Monroe is an island, officially known as Kausler's Island. But through this legend, is it more popularly known as Dog Lady Island. Originally called Fox Island many, many years ago, the first island owners built a large house that was intended to be a women's religious retreat. In the late 1800s, the island was bought by a family named Kausler, who re-named the island 'Kausler Island'.
Over the years the island was turned into a pig farm, garbage dump, and communal living area. None of these ventures were successful.
The house burned down in 1961, Mr. Kausler passed away, and Mrs. Kausler was left alone on the island to live in one of the deserted communal buildings. Well, not completely alone - there was also a pack of wild dogs living on the island. Alone for years, the old lady became less human and more canine. According to Legend Tripping Through Historic Monroe, “she ran about on all fours, viciously tearing at the flesh of dead animals and tugging at carcasses with her pack of mutts”.
In the 1960s, teenagers would go to the island for an evening of partying, some claiming to have seen the glowing eyes of the Dog Lady peering out at them through the bushes. Some said they even saw the old woman herself, saying she looked “wild, ancient, wearing distressed clothing, always in the presence of her pack of feral dogs”. It was during the 1960s that the island came to be called 'Dog Lady Island'.
The legend also says that the woman lost her tongue, possibly ripped out by one of the wild dogs as they fought over the carcass of a dead animal.
Somehow, a phone number got around that was said to be the Dog Lady's. Teens would call the number, which belonged to an elderly woman who had trouble speaking. Teens jumped on that aspect and claimed when they called the number, the Dog Lady 'growled' at them.
Another version says after her husband passed away, she was left with a number of Doberman Pinschers. One day, for some reason, they attacked her, ripped out her tongue, and left her blind. She was later killed by a gang who kept her body in a coffin. She now haunts the island.
The legend of the Dog Lady continues and seems to grow more and more. True or not, it seems to keep the kids in Monroe occupied. Local filmmakers even took a turn immortalizing the legend in this video:
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